archives directories

ARCHIVES DIRECTORIES AND OTHER INFORMATION

Art 600

1. International directory of archives = Annuaire international des archives (1992) CD941.I61 1992 Green Info Center

For a variety of national, state, regional, and some local archives in Western and Eastern Europe and the U.S., provides name of director, address, phone, historical periods covered, and approximate linear feet of the collection.

FRANCE

2. Welsch, E. Libraries and archives in France: a handbook ([3rd ed.], 1991) CD1190.W45 1991 Green Lane Room

Gives detailed information about what one needs to gain access to each institution's collection: passport, extra passport photos, letters of introduction, etc. Tells how to get a seat, how to request material. Discusses problems dealing with small, overworked staffs, limited hours, annual closings; what kind of photocopying policies and facilities to expect. For each individual archive or library gives hours, phone numbers, collection strengths, bibliography.

3. Chauleur, A. Bibliothèques et archives: comment se documenter? Guide pratique à l'usage des étudiants (2nd ed., 1980) Z797.A1C47 Green Lane Room

Covers in French pretty much the same ground as Welsch (#2) except more detailed on the Bibliothèque Nationale and Archives Nationales, where the author was an archivist.

4. Hildesheimer, F. Les archives--pourquoi? comment? La recherche aujourd'hui dans les archives en France (1984) CD1191.H54 1984 General Reference, Green stacks

Survey of French archives: their collecting policies, how their contents are organized. Useful mainly for addresses and phone numbers of provincial archives, and references to published guides to their use.

5. Rambaud, M. Les sources de l'histoire de l'art aux Archives Nationales
(1955) N6841.A157 Art stacks

Survey of all sections of the Archives, giving at least a general outline of art history holdings of each. For particularly rich sections, lists specific documents. Detailed subject index includes artists' names.

6. Rambaud, M. Documents du Minutier Central concernant l'histoire de l'art, 1700-1750 (1971) 2 v. N6410.F68 Art stacks

General arrangement is alphabetical by artists' names or, in the case of documents concerning buildings, by geographic location. Individual documents described. Detailed subject index in each volume. The Minutier Central is that part of the Archives Nationales that was established in 1928 to collect and centralize the documents of Paris notaries.

7. Fleury, M. Documents du Minutier Central concernant les peintres, les sculpteurs et les graveurs au XVIIe siecle, 1600-1650 (1969) N6852.A5
Art stacks

Same arrangement as #6, with coverage of an earlier period.

GERMANY

8. Welsch, E. Archives and libraries in a new Germany (1994) CD1223.W4 1994 Green Info Center

Organized much the same way, and gives the same kind of information, as the author's French volume (#2). Has subject index.

ITALY

9. Lewanski, R. Guide to Italian libraries and archives (1979) Z809.A1L48 Green Lane Room

Same kind of reference work as Welsch's, except its entries on specific institutions aren't quite as detailed.

10. Guida generale degli archivi di Stato italiani (1981- ) CD1424.G84 1981 Green stacks

Arranged alphabetically by major city; within city, set up chronologically by broad historical period; under period, arranged by major collection. Each city section ends with a subject index, including names of important individuals and families. Complete through "Rovigo."

NETHERLANDS etc.

11. Brogan, Martha L. Research guide to libraries and archives in the low countries (1991) Z813.A1B76 1991 Green Lane Room

Useful guide to research facilities in the Netherlands and Belgium. Provides description and background on each collection.

RUSSIA

12. Grimsted, Patricia K. Archives of Russia: a directory and bibliographic guide to holdings in Moscow and St. Petersburg (2000) CD1711.A76 2000 Hoover Ref.

Excellent, detailed guide that provides, in addition to all the usual contact and location data and information about the histories and holdings of repositories, a full account of what the researcher needs to get access and what kind of finding aids, photocopying facilities, and general working conditions s/he will find in each institution.

U.K.

13. Foster, J. British archives: a guide to archive resources in the United Kingdom (4th ed., 2002) CD1040.F67.1995 Green Info Center

Gives much the same kind of information that Welsch supplies for French and German institutions. Tells how to get access. Describes major collections, their finding aids (i.e. what in-house lists and indexes they've made), photocopy facilities and policies, etc. Name index and subject index.

U.S.A.

14. Archives of American Art. The card catalog of the manuscript collections of the Archives of American Art (1980) 10 v. Z6611.A7A72. Art reference Supplement, 1981-84 (1985) Z6611.A7A72 Art ref

Arranged alphabetically by artist, group and movement. Annotations give a rough idea of what the Archives has on a given subject. Many records now available in the RLIN Archives file. (However, the paper catalog appears to contain a more complete set of added entries to individual collections of papers.) Another option is to go to the AAA website http://www.si.edu/artarchives/ and click on "The Catalog."

15. Archives of American Art. The card catalog of the oral history collections of the Archives of American Art (1984) N6536.A73 1984 Art stacks

Arranged alphabetically by artist. Brief annotations.

16. Archives of the History of Art. Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities. Preliminary guide to the collections (1985) N386.A73A7 1985 Art stacks

Basic guide to some of the Getty Center's archival collections. Not complete; they have acquired numerous collections since the guide was published.

17. ArchivesUSA http://archives.chadwyck.com/

Commercial archives database that includes indexing and content from the Library of Congress, and other sources, going back to the 1950's. Web interface provides searching by keyword, collection, name, repository name, etc. To get access, use URL above, or go to SUL/AIR website, click on "Databases" and then, in the alphabetical list, "ArchivesUSA."

18. National union catalog of manuscript collections (1959/61-93//)
Z6620.U5N3 Green Lane Room

Records focused collections of archival material reported to the Library of Congress by various U.S. repositories. For each year, or series of years, since 1959, includes a catalog, in which the collections are described in some detail, and a subject index. After 1975, the annual subject indexes are cumulated every five years. Two-volume index of personal names mentioned in catalog entries from 1959 through 1984 (Z6620-U5I53-1988 General Reference).
Discontinued with the 1993 volumes as a cost-cutting move. LC now reporting archival collections to RLIN. See NUCMC website at http://lcweb.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/. All NUCMC indexing and data now included in ArchivesUSA website (#17).

19. California Cooperative Preservation of Architectural Records (COPAR)
Architectural records in the San Francisco Bay Area: a guide to research
(1988) NA2125.C22S263 1988 Art reference

Two main sections: 1.) extant architectural firms that hold their own records and make them available to researchers; 2.) Bay Area archives that contain architectural records. Subject index includes architects' names. Similar COPAR guides cover architectural records in Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City.

20. Directory of archives and manuscript repositories in the United States
(2nd ed., 1988) CD3020.D49 1988 Art reference

Geographical state/city arrangement with subject index that includes artists and architectural firms. Covers archives in, among others, state and city historical societies and art museums.

21. Research Libraries Group. Archival Resources available via "Databases" on the SUL/AIR website.

Provides access to an enormous collection of archives from various research libraries in RLIN's AMC (Archival and Mixed Collections) file. Also features the archives' actual online finding aids for the material in many cases.

MISC.

22. Elsevier's lexicon of archive terminology (1964) CD945.E4 Special Collections

Might be useful in a specific European archive situation. Gives terms for different kinds of documents, shelving situations, finding aids, technical terms, etc. French, with equivalent terms in English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.

23. Evans, F. Modern archives and manuscripts: a select bibliography (1975) Z5140.E87 Green stacks

Excellent, annotated bibliography with particularly good section on literature about deciphering and dating old documents and detecting forgeries.

24. Mather, R. Excavating buried treasure (1945) 025.171.M427 SAL

Explains what types of documents to look for when doing art historical research in Italian archives--baptismal records, tax returns, wills, etc.--and what kind of information they can be expected to yield.

25. O'Toole, J. Understanding archives and manuscripts (1990)
CD950.O88 1990 Special Collections - Univ Archives ref

Provides a brief overview of the history, purpose, and organization of archives.

26. Thorpe, J. The use of manuscripts in literary research: problems of access and literary property rights 2nd ed. (1979) Z692.M28T47 1979 Green Lane Room

Discusses some of the issues researchers should consider when trying to locate and study manuscript material.